Wine Advocate 88 points - The dark ruby-colored 2004 Old Vines Reserva is 100% Tempranillo aged for 12 months in French, American, and Hungarian oak. It exhibits a fragrant, spicy, black cherry, and blackberry-scented nose followed by a medium-bodied wine with racy, sweet fruit, a bit of structure, and 1-2 years of aging potential. It can be enjoyed now through 2014. (May 2009)

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Formerly known Bodegas Bemvinas winery, Don Doroteo Navarro Donado purchased the estate in 1989 and renamed it Bodegas Navarro Lopez. The vineyards encompass 427 acres, of which, 370 are exclusively dedicated to Tempranillo. Garnacha and Macabeo (Viura) are also grown.

Food pairing

This wine is ideally served at room temperature to accompany barbecued meats, lamb, vegetables and mature cheeses.

Producer

The Bodegas Bemvinas winery was founded in 1904 as a modest family enterprise by Don Juan Megia Sanchez. Throughout its first three decades, the winery’s production increased to the point where it was making over 160,00 liters of wine by the 1930s.
The Spanish Civil War changed the family’s fortune when the winery was confiscated by the Republican in 1936 and not returned to the Megia family until 1940 - but without the wine. The family started over, selling whole vintages in barrels, mainly in Madrid. By the 1970s, when production capacity was around 360,000 liters, the winery passed to the last living Megia, who sold it in the 1980s to the current owner, Don Doroteo Navarro Donado.
Don Doroteo immediately implemented a number of necessary changes and improvements that brought a bout a total re-vitalization and modernization of the property, which had been renamed Bodegas Navarro Lopez after the new family owners.
A strict quality policy, moving from barrels to bottles, emphasizing single-vineyard and mono-varietal wines carrying the D.O. Valdepenas, as well as important investments in state-of-the art winery equipment and technology, have been the keys to the success of Navarro Lopez as a rising star in the production of high-quality wines, in a region that is starting to be recognized as an important wine regions in Spain.
In the early 1990s, Don Doroteo bought two other wineries in the area, Bodegas Canadas and the Bodegas Nieto, greatly extending the Estate’s vineyard acerage and the type of grapes grown. The Estate consists today of 150 hectares, mostly planted to Tempranillo (Cencibel), Garnacha and Macabeo grapes, with over 8 million liters produced. Nearly 90% of the Navarro Lopez wines are red - and the majority of those are 100% Tempranillo or a blend with Tempranillo as the base grape.
The next generation of the family has become involved in the winery with Don Doroteo’s two sons, Francisco and Jose Vicente Navarro Lopez, taking active roles in the production, marketing and sales of Navarro Lopez wines.